Cuzco is quite the contrast to Lima’s urban landscape. Situated about 12,000 ft above sea level Cuzco is the gateway city to Machu Picchu. We arrive around 10 a.m. to see the city. The flight from Lima was about an hour and a half so it wasn’t terrible. The temp was roughly 68 degrees which was perfect for me. Our hotel, the Prisma Hotel is quite nice. Its about a ½ mile from the Plaza de Armas. We checked in and had our orientation with our guide leader Wilbert. Tomorrow we pack our gear for a 4 day journey towards Machu Picchu.

After we checked in the group split and we were on our own for the rest of the afternoon, As soon as we started walking my head started to throb. The altitude change was drastic and my body could not handle it fast enough. I started to chew Cory’s coca leaves. Pretty gross in leave form but in teas its actually quite good. We stopped at the post office and Cory dropped off a postcard for his mom and we were off to lunch. We found a local restaurant that looked pretty decent off the main street. We sat down and ordered Alpaca. I had mine with a cream sauce and Cory had it sliced and grilled. It was pretty good. Tasted like grilled roast beef. After lunch we walked around the Plaza de Armas and checked out the stores around the area. We got lost on the way back as my GPS was pointing us about ½ mile off target. We backtracked and eventually found our way back. At one point one of the locals basically told us not to go down there which kinda frightened us. Regardless we were both tired as hell when we returned to the hotel. The altitude gave us pulsing migraines. We both ended up taking 3 hour naps.

I woke up and had some more coca tea which helped the headache calm down a little. Dinner was with the group at a fancy restaurant called the Inka Grill. Probably one of the best meals I’ve had so far. It was a shredded chicken in a creamy corn sauce. I don’t remember what it was called but the waiter recommended. It was superb. After dinner we went back to the hotel, packed our gear and went to bed. My pack was over the 6kg limit at 7.5 kg. My daypack was 17kg and my porters bag was 6kg, They should be paying me to porter. I hate my tripod. Damn it.